Python tidbits: inverting the nesting of a nested list.

More than once I came across the problem of rearranging a nested list. I had a nested list of the form 

X = [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e', 'f']]
And I want 

Y = [['a', 'd'], ['b', 'e'], ['c', 'f']]
without having to resort to an ugly list comprehension over 3 lines. A friend told me to use 

Y = zip(*X)
So easy! Kind of obvious but I didn't find it on the web. So I thought I'd write it down. Enjoy!

Comments

  1. HANNAH'S DADMay 2, 2012 at 1:41 AM

    >>> X = [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e', 'f']]
    >>> zip(*X)
    [('a', 'd'), ('b', 'e'), ('c', 'f')]

    ???

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andreas MuellerMay 2, 2012 at 8:49 AM

    Sorry, that's what I meant. Corrected the post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 6, 2012 at 9:55 PM

    This is related to taking the transpose of a matrix or array (implemented in Numpy).

    ReplyDelete
  4. thouisMay 7, 2012 at 11:03 AM

    I always liked the scheme version:
    (apply map list X)

    ReplyDelete

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